Replaceable Batteries

[presta]

Did anyone notice that the EU passed legislation last summer to ban electrical equipment that doesn't have batteries that are replaceable by the end user? It'll also apply to electric cars, but in that case they have to be replaceable by a non-franchised car repair professional. No custom tools are allowed, no software is allowed to impede the job, and spares must be available at a 'reasonable' price for five years after the end of production.

Sounds good to me, hopefully we'll get it here by default.

 

[prestonhere]

Did anyone notice that the EU passed legislation last summer to ban electrical equipment that doesn't have batteries that are replaceable by the end user? It'll also apply to electric cars, but in that case they have to be replaceable by a non-franchised car repair professional. No custom tools are allowed, no software is allowed to impede the job, and spares must be available at a 'reasonable' price for five years after the end of production.

Sounds good to me, hopefully we'll get it here by default.

View attachment 718558

Good for the eu but lancashire is not in it so will not apply

 

[Beebo]

Good for the eu but lancashire is not in it so will not apply

Anything the EU does will definitely affect the UK market as manufacturers will only make things to comply with the EU market regulations so we will either have to accept them or not buy them. Because manufacturers won’t make UK specific models for such a small market.
It’s one of the many stupid things about Brexit. We are now outside the system with zero influence over it, but having to just accept their changes.

 

[Cycleops]

And what about mobile phones? Haven't seen any yet.

 

[Drago]

Because manufacturers won’t make UK specific models for such a small market.

Cough. right hand drive cars. Cough.

Cough. Anything with writing in English. Cough.

Cough. Black pudding. Cough.

Et cetera.

 

[wafter]

Absolutely great news on the face of it; although it seems that this is more of a "right to repair" situation rather than being driven by the desire for devices to take easily-replaceable (with no tools, like how it used to be) standard size batteries.

Also "reasonable cost" appears to be a bit of a subjective grey area, while five years of availability really isn't that long as far as I'm concerned.

I guess it's still progress though.

 

[Gwylan]

That'll be interesting when it comes to replacing my bike battery. Especially the software bit.
My bike software has to be taught to recognise the battery. Or you lose functionality.
That's buried in the code which is unreliable and only accessible with an Apple device via the manufacturer's site.
Reasonable price might be another challenge.
Never worth the €500 they want to charge anyway.

 

[Electric_Andy]

That sounds good. Although will it apply to many things made in China but sold online? An example would be USB C charging ports. There was I think an agreement that USB-c would be the agreed termination for phoned etc, but loads of cheap stuff sold on Amzon still uses micro USB which is cheaper to make but rubbish. If sold on an international website, does it count as a UK market?

 

[presta]

And what about mobile phones? Haven't seen any yet.

The legislation was only passed last July, various aspects are being phased in between now and Feb 2027.

Anything the EU does will definitely affect the UK market as manufacturers will only make things to comply with the EU market regulations so we will either have to accept them or not buy them. Because manufacturers won’t make UK specific models for such a small market.
It’s one of the many stupid things about Brexit. We are now outside the system with zero influence over it, but having to just accept their changes.

That's what I was hoping, but it will depend on what's being made for the rest of the world. Presumably there's an economic advantage to making batteries non replaceable, so they'll have a motive for doing it everywhere except the EU. Unless other countries follow of course.

 

[presta]

Absolutely great news on the face of it; although it seems that this is more of a "right to repair" situation rather than being driven by the desire for devices to take easily-replaceable (with no tools, like how it used to be) standard size batteries.

Also "reasonable cost" appears to be a bit of a subjective grey area, while five years of availability really isn't that long as far as I'm concerned.

I guess it's still progress though.

I don't think it's prohibiting custom made batteries, they just have to be replaceable without custom made tools. Non-standard batteries are a bit of a racket like printer ink cartridges.

My 'new' laptop's only four years old, but it's been running off the mains with a knackered battery for half that time. Kosher Samsung batteries for my old laptop were costing me nearly £100 apiece, although the questionable cheapies off Amazon were as little as ~£16 if you don't mind risking a fire.

 

[biggs682]

Lol

 

[Beebo]

Cough. right hand drive cars. Cough.

Cough. Anything with writing in English. Cough.

Cough. Black pudding. Cough.

Et cetera.

There’s a surprisingly large % of the world who drive on the left. Over one third of the world’s population in fact.

 

[presta]

Cough. Anything with writing in English. Cough.

A different language is usually just a matter of changing the silk screen for the front panel, not a fundamental re-design.

 

[Drago]

A different language is usually just a matter of changing the silk screen for the front panel, not a fundamental re-design.

I'm not sure that works on electronic displays. I always thought its was a job for one of those programmer's?

 

[slowmotion]

Electric toothbrushes could get interesting.